It's A Long Way Down
by Exxal
Summary: At the Sector 7 pillar, Reno carried out his orders and dropped the plate, but what if he didn't manage to escape? Blood, angst, all that good stuff.


I'm stuck on my other stories, so I thought I'd just write a quickie about the events at the Sector 7 pillar with a twist. This time, Reno doesn't get away in time.

Oh look, it's another Reno-angst story; how uncharacteristic of me. XD

It's A Long Way Down

Reno had to set off the bomb and bring down the plate. Those were his orders. Tseng said he would probably die, but Tseng _always_ said morbid stuff like that. Reno knew he was going to be fine. Just as long as he didn't think about what he was doing. And besides, it was his birthday today. He wasn't about to get himself killed on his birthday.

But then AVALANCHE showed up.

Reno had just finished prepping the bomb and was about to go, but now he had three well-armed terrorists between him and his escape. He attacked first, hoping he could catch them off-guard and then run, but they were ready for him and it became an all-out battle. As Reno did his best to fend off the devastating attacks, he heard Tseng's voice over his earpiece.

"Reno! Get out of there!"

_Easier said than done, boss-man,_ Reno thought. Time was running out, but AVALANCHE was between him and the stairs, and there was no way he could ever hope to beat all three of them. Not alone.

Suddenly, there was a new voice in his ear. "Reno buddy, we're coming up in the chopper. You're gonna have to jump on board."

Rude's voice was so deep and soothing that Reno felt his panic lift. Maybe he would get out of this after all. All he had to do was jump.

But Reno hadn't even taken a step towards the rail when he felt a blinding pain. He stumbled back with a gasp. There was so much blood, but he didn't know how it had gotten there. Had he been cut? Shot?

It didn't matter. Reno's sight was going dim, and he knew that the bomb would go off any moment. "It's time," he told himself weakly, and then he used the last of his strength to make a break for the railing. He hit shoulders with one of the terrorists, but Reno refused to stop. This was his only chance.

Reno vaulted onto the railing and then he was falling. The chopper was there, and Reno stretched out his hand so Rude could grab it and haul him in.

It worked perfectly. Almost. Rude snagged Reno's wrist, but Reno's skin was so covered in blood that he just slipped away. Reno blinked dazedly up at Rude's horrified expression as he kept falling.

It was a long way down.

When Reno finally hit the ground, he blacked out, but then he awake and staring up at the plate with half-lidded eyes. He knew he was hurt badly, though he couldn't feel a thing.

There was a loud explosion from above. _Pillar's goin',_ Reno thought lazily. _I gotta get out of here._

But he couldn't move. Reno smiled up at the plate. It seemed so ironic to him that he had set the bomb that was going to kill him.

As the plate shifted and then began to fall, deafening in its descent, Reno didn't hear a thing.

XXX

Tifa looked with numb horror at the wreckage that was Sector 7. The plate had come down like a giant shoe and stomped the slums into the ground, and the people too.

She looked over at her companions. Barrett was still in a frenzy, but he had calmed down a lot since she'd told him Marlene was safe; Cloud was just standing there, taking it all in. There were fires burning everywhere, and that cast them all in a dingy orange glow.

"We should go," Cloud said at last. Barrett turned on him.

"Like hell," he spat. "We've got to see if anyone's alive out there."

Cloud looked to Tifa. She could understand why he wanted to leave, but the hope that anyone could have survived made her agree with Barrett. So they carefully made their way back into Sector 7.

XXX

Reno knew he had to be dead. He had to be. But then why was he still lying there, crumpled over the uneven ground, looking up into a sky that was a perfect, pure blue?

And was death always so loud? He could hear a car alarm going off, and somewhere he could hear water, probably from a burst pipe. And there was pain. Distant, hot pain.

Reno's mind was fuzzy, but he was beginning to think he may have survived. He tried to laugh and choked instead, spitting blood onto his chin. Being crushed by the plate would've been too quick. This was what he deserved: to die slowly, painfully.

Suddenly, Reno heard a voice. Was someone looking for him? Could it be the other Turks?

Reno closed his eyes. He wouldn't die alone. That was something. Then the voice came again, and Reno knew that it wasn't one the Turks.

"BIGGS! WEDGE! JESSIE!"

If Reno could have, he would have made himself invisible. He recognized that voice from his battle on the pillar, and the owner would not be happy to see him.

XXX

They went back to the pillar first because Barrett insisted that they look for the teammates they'd had to leave behind. Tifa knew they were all dead, but she kept quiet. Barrett wouldn't believe it unless he saw for himself.

The pillar was destroyed. Chunks of concrete the size of houses were everywhere, and there were twisted metal skeletons strewn like vines in the air. There were human bodies, too. Tifa would have checked for signs of life, but all of them were very clearly dead; burnt or crushed or just too broken.

Tifa wandered away on her own as Barrett started to call out for Biggs and Wedge and Jessie. She knew no one would reply, and she didn't want Barrett or Cloud to see the tears in her eyes.

Tifa was so distracted that she kicked something. When she looked down she almost had a heart attack. There on the ground was the Turk that had killed Sector 7.

"Cloud! Barrett!"

They were beside her in a moment. Tifa thought that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to call them when she saw the rage in Barrett's eyes.

"He's still alive," Cloud commented. Barrett lifted his gun-arm and stepped forward, but Cloud stopped him. "Barrett..."

"This bastard wiped out a whole city!" Barrett growled.

"I know, but he's practically dead already. No need to waste your bullets."

Tifa looked more closely at Reno and realized that Cloud was right. The Turk's skin was almost gray, and there was a telltale stain of blood on his chest. But his eyes were open and he was watching them warily. Tifa saw that his gaze was dull and vacant.

"Come on, let's keep looking."

Cloud dragged Barrett away, leaving Tifa alone at the dying man's side. Reno blinked slowly at her and then looked up at the sky. He obviously didn't have the slightest hope that she might help him.

Tifa started to leave, but then she went back and sat down on a rock a few feet away. She didn't know what was keeping her there; maybe it was because Reno looked so young, perhaps even younger than she was, or maybe it was because she had an army's worth of potions that she wouldn't allow herself to use on this murderer.

Either way, she couldn't just leave him.

Tifa felt more and more guilty as she watched the Turk fighting for air. It wasn't really his fault. When someone gets shot, do people blame the gun or the person that pulled the trigger? Reno was just a tool; the real criminal was ShinRa.

They had so much to answer for, Tifa realized. Mako energy, Sephiroth, dropping the plate...and taking a child like Reno and making him into a killer.

Finally, Tifa got to her feet. When she walked over to Reno and knelt by his side, taking an ordinary potion from her pocket. She couldn't waste anything stronger on him, but this would at least keep him going until the other Turks found him.

Tifa took the cap from the potion and poured it past Reno's bloody lips. He didn't swallow, and the potion ran from the corners of his mouth. His eyes never moved from the sky. Tifa bit her lip and tried again. This time, Reno managed to choke down a mouthful.

At first, Reno was sent into a fit of coughing, but then his breathing became a little less strained.

"Tifa! Where are you?"

Tifa dropped the empty potion and jumped to her feet. "Coming!" she called. Without glancing back, she raced to join Cloud and Barrett. She decided not to tell them that she'd just given a potion to the enemy. Partially because she was ashamed, but also because she knew Barrett and Cloud would go back and kill Reno for sure.

XXX

Reno's PHS signal was faint, hidden beneath layers of interference, but it was there. Tseng sat in the lab, staring thoughtfully at the screen. Rude stood behind him. Tseng knew that Rude was dying to go and tear Sector 7 apart until he found his partner, but it wouldn't pay for them to act rashly. Especially since it wasn't likely Reno had survived.

At last, Tseng stood. They would go and search around the pillar for Reno's body, and bring it back to ShinRa. Reno deserved that much, at least.

XXX

It was getting dark. Reno watched the stars glitter into sight as the sun sank further beyond the horizon. He had been thinking about that woman, the fighter from AVALANCHE who had given him a potion.

Why? That was what he didn't understand. Why would she do that? He certainly didn't deserve it. Did she think that he might turn traitor if she saved him?

Reno had enough strength to laugh. If she thought that, she didn't know him at all. He would never betray the Turks. They were his family; Tseng himself had personally rescued him from a dead-end life in the slums.

So yeah, Reno wasn't about to forget all that just because some girl with a great rack had healed him.

"Reno!"

And he certainly wasn't about to–

"RENO!"

Reno was shocked from his thoughts as strong hands seized his shoulders and shook him. Who was that? Reno blinked and tried to focus, but he was too busy having his brain liquified.

"Rude, stop that!"

Tseng?

Reno finally saw the men's faces. It was _Tseng._ And Rude.

"..." Reno tried to ask what had taken them so long, but he couldn't seem to form the words. "..."

"It's okay, Reno," Tseng said. "We've got you. You're gonna be just fine."

Reno winced as Rude lifted him from the ground. He wanted to scream, but it hurt too much and he couldn't make a sound. Reno found his eyes sliding shut.

"Hey," Rude said, jostling him. "Don't go to sleep yet, partner."

Prying his eyelids open again was the hardest thing Reno had ever done, but he managed it. And he stayed awake until Tseng and Rude got him to the hospital. Then he allowed himself to give in to the darkness creeping at the edge of his vision and passed out.


End file.
